PPE – Why It Makes Good Business Sense

PPE – Why It Makes Good Business Sense

PPE, or Personal Protective Equipment can be expensive so if budgets are tight, do you really need to provide it? Yes. Not only is PPE an essential legal requirement, but it also makes great business sense.

Above all else, employers have a legal duty to provide PPE. The Health and Safety regulations now states that the employer is ‘to provide’ PPE which clarifies that while it is the employer’s responsibility to ensure the clothing or equipment is worn, the employee has a responsibility to wear it.

Of course, fulfilling legal health and safety obligations is important, as is avoiding accidents, investigations and prosecutions. However with these, come other associated business benefits to investing in PPE.

PPE reduces the effects of injury and can prevent accidents from happening at all. By reducing Injuries and accidents, sick leave is lowered and healthy workers are also more likely to be happy ones.

The benefits of keeping your staff happy is not just restricted to a boost in staff morale but has other flow-on effects throughout the business, helping productivity, and reducing staff turnover as well as helping to attract new talent and create brand loyalty by sending a positive image to the public and to customers.

Of course, the other benefit of using PPE and reducing accidents is that you reduce all the time and paperwork involved in the internal recording of incidents, not to mention dealing with any notifiable events. Under the Health and Safety Act, employers have to keep records for at least five years commencing from the date the Regulator is notified of a particular event or incident.

By staying compliant, your company avoids prosecutions, fines and legal fees, compensation payouts and costs to the business of the associated bad press. All in all, the money invested in PPE is certainly covered by savings gained from all these other benefits.

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